January 27, 2010

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House Democratic leaders have sent their Senate counterparts a package of changes to the Senate bill that would add $300 billion to the legislation’s cost, an “irrational” proposal that has Senate Democrats questioning whether the House is setting their chamber up to fail, according to a senior Democratic Senate aide.

But a House Democratic source pushed back against the claim, saying the numbers are constantly changing and the $300-billion figure is too high.

For instance, it was unclear whether the $300-billion number presumes that the elimination of some taxes from the bill would not be replaced with the addition of others.

Still, the in-fighting between the chambers underscores the growing tensions as Democrats struggle to pass President Obama’s top domestic priority.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said last week that she does not have the votes to pass the Senate bill unchanged so she and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have been working on changes that could entice liberal House members to support it.

But Senate Democrats were floored by Pelosi’s list of demands and frustrated by a proposal that they said would send the cost of reform north of $1 trillion.

“We’ve got members who are getting whacked for spending. You have the State of the Union where Obama is going to rail against profligate spending. There’s negotiating and there’s being irrational. And this is irrational,” the aide said. “They’re setting this bill up for failure.”

Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami said, “We continue to explore various configurations with the Senate and the White House and there is no set cost. Any claim to the contrary is false. There are certain House priorities, including making changes to the excise tax, changing the Nebraska provision, and expanding affordability.”

One of the biggest proposed House changes, the Senate aide said, would eliminate the Senate bill’s tax on high-end insurance plans at a cost of $150 billion. The tax is unpopular with many liberal House members, but supported by Senate Democratic moderates and President Barack Obama, namely because it is one of the chief mechanisms to curb rising health care costs.

Democrats and labor unions struck a deal earlier this month to ease the tax’s burden on state and local government workers and those with collective bargaining agreements and many insiders expect that deal to be included in the package of changes.

The House also wants another $38 billion to fill a gap in seniors’ prescription drug coverage and $23 billion for additional Medicaid subsidies, the aide said.

Democrats have been scrambling to find a way to pass reform since Republican Scott Brown won last week’s Massachusetts Senate election, depriving them of the 60-vote majority they have depended on to pass reform. So, Democrats have explored rolling a list of changes into a piece of legislation that could be passed using a procedure called budget reconciliation, which only requires 51 votes.

But that process is also causing tension between the chambers.

House Democrats want the Senate to pass the reconciliation bill before they pass the Senate reform bill, ensuring that the changes get made. But Senate Democrats have been unable to find a way that their chamber could pass the reconciliation bill before the House passes the Senate bill. That’s because it appears the Senate bill needs to become law before it could be amended by a reconciliation bill, the aide said.

Senate Democrats, the aide said, understand that the House is wary of its losing leverage to negotiate reconciliation legislation if they were to pass the Senate bill first, but what’s frustrating Senate Democrats is that the House has not proposed a procedural solution that would work either.

“We’re trying to do this in good faith,” the aide said. “When your solution is something you know can’t pass, it’s no solution at all.”

Senate Democrats are upset that Reid’s Tuesday comment that there is no rush to pass reform is being used to suggest that the Senate is giving up on reform when Senate Democratic leaders are trying to figure out how to handle the House’s demands.

Reader Comments (16)

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democrat politicians still don't get it. 17% of Americans are out of work. Tack on another $300 billion and maybe we won't notice. democrats, the government doesn't have any money. Government can't pay for anything. That is taxpayer money you are throwing around.
democrat tax and spenders, go home.

I can understand how Pelosi and Reid feel that they can pass this Health Debacle. After all, look what she spent giving everbody a vacation to the Copenhagen Climate party. Yea Gore!!! The three stooges.

Posted By: I can understand how Pelosi and Reid feel that they can pass this Health Debacle. After all, look w | January 28, 2010 at 10:42 AM

American: GOP=Death of the Middle Class.
If this bill passes it will be the death of the middle class, there is no true cost control contained within the bill. Any additional cost put on the companies will be passed on the public an who will bear most of this cost will be the middle class.
These are the same people who have been afraid of fixing Medicare all these years, can you image what they will do once the true cost of this measure start coming in? More taxes on whom the middle class.....
They aren't really controlling medical cost but insurance which are different things all together. My wife was diagnois with breast cancer in 2008 for a double mastecomy the hospital bill was over $22,000 for a outpatience surgery, she was there for about 3 hours. The anthesiologist bill $3,600 for the same surgery for about 1 1/2 hours of work, tell me this bill will control those cost and you may win me over, but again it does NOTHING to contain HEALTHCARE COST.

Some of the cost of the health care bill IS new taxes, but other than the mandate fee the only ones that the American people are going to feel is the tax on earners over $250,000 per year. The cadillac tax will generally just push plans to lower prices or employers to pick different plans. It's net effect will be to bring down cost so everyone benefits.
Also, a lot of the $1T is just moving money around in the system and fees to put downward pressure on prices of drugs, insurance, medical devices. The CMS Actuary says that based on previous bills, the cost of premiums are only expected to go up 0.7% over 10 years, compared to the 1-3% they have risen historically.

Some taxes on industry will be passed on in premiums. The CMS Actuary estimates 0.7% increase over 10 years, compared to the 1%-3% / 10 years increases we have seen to date.
Not a bad deal in exchange for the important benefits of insurance reform and universal coverage.

How is Obama caring for the middle class? He is pushing a bill that will bring it universal coverage that cannot be rescinded or denied on the basis of pre-existing condiitons while not increasing taxes on them. It is a centrist approach.

LOL - adds $300 billion and makes the healthcare bill over $1 Trillion! Hey 0zer0, hows that "Spending Freeze" working? About as well as "Hope and Change".
The circular firing squad for the dumbcrats continues so Lady Liberty is smiling again as Real Americans retake the Republic.
Hey libturds, the Tea Party Express is coming for you next! We will throw you out of congress in 2010 and your Narcissist Fascist Dear Leader Reader in 2012. We will not be stopped!
0bamacare = Socialized Soylent Green Healthcare
0bamanomics = Economics + Moronics
0zer0doctrine = Neville Chamberlain meets Jimma Carter!

In November, your vote should be against the incumbent party. Not against the Democrats. Not against the Republicans. Not even against the current office-holder. It should be against the PARTY that currently holds the office.

Posted By: In November, your vote should be against the incumbent party. Not against the Democrats. Not against | January 28, 2010 at 01:09 PM

Like Dylan R on MSNBC said, the fact of this "reform" is to "screw over 70% of the people to give free healthcare to 30% of the people.
O'bama even admitted that the poor and minorities will receive "disproportionate" benefit of this plan.
Redistribution of wealth is the name of the game.

Their work on the fiscal freeze It is even worse than stated. They are counting income sources that are in fact made up. They count revenue generated by climate revenues and then the wonderful Health Savings all added towards the deficit reduction. Then they add on the TARP expenditures for the coming years starting out at 260 billion dollars and then the obsequious “Place holder for potential additional financial stabilization efforts” with a miserly 250 Billion dollars.
They have made up expenditures as well as income to “cook the books”. All ready there is no likely outcome that shows a true deficit reduction and the so called spending freeze is nothing more than a falsehood. Just like the openness of the health care debate. His lies about lobbyist not having a place in his administration, yet there they are. How can you trust the man who refuses to display a birth certificate instead of paying millions to keep it hidden, unless there is something there that needs to be hidden, that would be another few million to help the debit. Trillions of dollars in stimulus to create how many jobs? Not nearly enough. Millions of Americans are still unemployed. The simple facts are
more jobs would be developed if the money was just given back to the people. Let them spend it on anything that they want. The money will go to buy new cars, homes and educations. Every level of the economy will benefit from the spending from the bottom up not, the other way around we all know what a trickle down economy does. People will buy or save the money given back to them. If every person in America was given their share of these vast amounts being spent the so call stimulus spending we would see a real growth in the economy that would have lasting and long term benefits for both the Economy and the people of the Nation. As that commercial likes to say “it's our money and we want it now!”
“The truth is more important than the facts." - Frank Lloyd Wright